Zhuhai

Introduction

Weather

Weather is comparable to that of Macau. Summers are humid and hot with temperatures between 28 °C and 34 °C on most days. This is also the wet season. Winters last from December to February but temperatures rarely are really low. October - November and March - May are pleasant times for a visit.

Getting There

If you are getting to Zhuhai from Macau, you can get 30-day visas at the border. You can also visit Zhuhai as a daytrip from Macau. Inversely you may visit Macau on a day trip as accomodation is cheaper in Zhuhai.

By Plane

The Zhuhai airport services most major destinations in China, including Beijing and Shanghai. It is more economical flying to/from Zhuhai, compared to Macau.

By Bus

Buses to Guangzhou take around 3 hours. and leave from the Gongbei long-distance bus station. They leave every 20 minutes or so between 6:00am and 9:00pm. Buses to other points in China depart from either this station or the Kee Kwan bus station. Destinations include Dongguan (2.5 hours), Foshan (3 hours), Shantou (7 hours), Shenzhen (2.5 hours), and Zhongshan (1 hour). Most of the top end hotels have buses going to and from Hong Kong (2.5 hours).

By Boat

Fast ferries travel 6 times a day to Kowloon in Hong Kong (just over an hour) and 8 times daily to Macau. There are also fast boats to the port of Shenzhen, at Shekou (1 hour).

Keep Connected

Internet

Wangba (联网) means internet bar in Chinese. Almost every town will have an internet bar or gaming center. The best way to spot an internet bar is to look for the 网(ba) character, which means net, and large digitized images of computer game characters. Often, there will be a sign saying Green Power in English at the entrance. Most gaming centers cost about RMB3 an hour. You prepay at the main desk and are then given a plastic card or a piece of paper. Once you are done you return the card or piece of paper and get reimbursed for the money you didn't spend. Be prepared for a place that might be dingy, basic and messy. Internet bars in China tend to get crowded starting in the late afternoon to the late evenings.

Some hotels provide access from the rooms that may or may not be free; others may provide a wireless service or a few desktops in the lounge area.Also, quite a few cafes provide free wireless Internet service. Some cafes, even provide a machine for customer use.

Phone

The country calling code to China is 86. To make an international call from China, the code is 00.

When making international phone calls it is best to buy an IP card. They typically have a value of ¥100 but sometimes can be had for as little as ¥25. The cards have printed Chinese instructions, but after dialing the number listed on the card English-spoken instructions are available. As a general indication of price, a call from China to Europe lasts around 22 minutes with a ¥100 card. Calls to the U.S. and Canada are advertised to be another 20% cheaper. There is no warning before the card runs out of minutes.

If you already have a GSM 900/1800 cellphone, you can roam onto Chinese networks, but calls will be very expensive (¥12-35/minute is typical). If you're staying for more than a few days, it will usually be cheaper to buy a prepaid Chinese SIM card; this gives you a Chinese phone number with a certain amount of money preloaded. Chinese tend to avoid phone numbers with the bad-luck digit '4', and vendors will often be happy to offload these "unsellable" SIM-cards to foreigners at a discount. If you need a phone as well, prices start around ¥100/200 used/new. Chinese phones, unlike those sold in many Western countries, are never "locked" and will work with any SIM card you put in them. China's two big operators are China Mobile and China Unicom. Most SIMs sold by the two work nationwide, with Unicom allowing Hong Kong/Macau/Taiwan usage as well. There is usually a surcharge of about ¥1/min when roaming outside the province you bought the SIM, and there are some cards that work only in a single province, so check when buying.

Post

China Post (中国邮政) is the official postal service of the People's Republic of China, operated by the State Postal Bureau of the People's Republic of China (website in Chinese only), and has more details about price to send letters, postcards and parcels, both domestically as well as internationally. The Chinese postal service is very good. Remember that in more remote places usually only one post office in a city can handle sending international boxes or letters. Also many times it might be worth having the name of the country you are trying to send to in Chinese characters, because small town people might not know what Estonia is in English. Post offices have a striking green logo and can easily be found everywhere in the cities. They are mostly open every day (including weekends!) from 8:00am to 6:00pm, though small offices might have shorter opening times, while the bigger ones in central and touristic areas are sometimes open during evenings as well.